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Excelsior class
For a list of Excelsior class ships see List of Excelsior class Ships. Design and Construction At 4,000 metres long, with one hundred decks, the Excelsior class is the biggest Fleet Carrier in the Alliance fleet, and widely recognised as a true Supercarrier. The Excelsior class has two islands, one containing the bridge at the 3,000 metre mark, and the other between the forward and aft hangars. They are the most technologically advanced, and the biggest class of Carrier, with room in each hangar for nine groups. There are four such hangars on each ship. The Indefatigable is the flagship of the Royal Navy, and head of the First Carrier Battlegroup commanded by Vice Admiral Alan Gibson. The physical design of the ship is based on the seafaring ships of Earth, with an arrowhead shape, and noticeable keel. The sublight engines are on the lower half of the stern of the ship, in two rows, one of four on top of one of five. Flying Control is operated from the flight deck, negating the need for a second island. ‘FLYCO’ monitors all fighters in transit, and conducts the traffic of the flight deck. The Bridge is situated near the top of the ‘Island’ in the mid-aft quarter of the ship. It is said that the Excelsior class is “future proof” and will be in service for at least fifty years. The British Excelsior, HMS Indefatigable, is the flagship of the most senior officer in active service, the Stellar Forces Commander. Command Systems Ship Command Flight Command The smaller of the two islands is known as FLYCO, and expedites all incoming and outgoing aircraft, including fighters, shuttles and transports. Combat Systems Offensive Weapons Systems Energy Weapons Like the Archer and Centurion arrays, the heavy lasers Torpedoes All torpedoes are controlled by the Fire Control command system, as part of the warfare station. There are three gun decks with torpedo tubes. Defensive Weapons Systems Along the main gun deck, situated half way between the bridge and the edge of the ship, with one turret every thirty metres are 120 Centurion emplacements. Above them are 40 of the heavier Archer emplacements. Furthermore, there are Countermeasures The Indefatigable employs state of the art deflector shield arrays, providing deflector shields strong enough to take a hit from a soviet torpedo at minimum range. Aircraft On an Excelsior class vessel, the forward port hangar is reserved for the new stealth fighter, the FS-138 Shadow. In this hangar, it carries one whole group, accessible from both sides of the hangar level. The rear hangar contains 5,000 craft, ranging from the FS-27 Rapier Interceptor to the FS-XX Gladiator Bomber. Although the hangars are on the same deck, their height takes up the room of approximately one hundred decks (the standard deck ceiling being three meters high). The size of the aircrew is two and a half times the amount of star fighters and the ship crew is double the size of the aircrew. Each of the hangars is 800 metres long and the two at the stern, which carry transports as well as fighters, are 600 deep. The two at the bow, carry the Shadows and are only XX metres deep. There are fifteen flights of Shadows (1 wing) in each of the forward hangars. The Excelsior class is named after the ship that carried the first settlers from Earth. The Shadow squadron is the historic 809 NAS, more commonly known as "The Immortals" Sensors The Indefatigable is equipped with extensive sensor arrays, allowing for search capability over an area 500,000 kilometres in every direction. Propulsion In realspace, the Excelsior class is propelled by no less than nine Pratt & Whitney H-4 ion engines, in two rows (a row of five above a row of four). They are independently operated; so if one was to be disabled the others would still work, although it would reduce the speed of the ship considerably. Specifications Key Data Ship Complement: 6,000 Air Complement: 3,750 Combined Complement: 9,750 Core Complement: 2,500 Unit Cost: $4 billion Dimensions Length: 4,000 metres Beam: 600 metres Height: 550 metres Grosse Mass: 55.8 megatons Performance Maximum Speed: 240,000 km/s Economical Speed: 180,000 km/s Maximum Acceleration (Hyper): 4,053 G Maximum Acceleration (Realspace): 420 G Realspace Range: 40,000 light hours Propulsion Sublight Drive: Pratt & Whitney H-4 Ion Engine (9) Tachyon Drive: Pratt & Whitney T-5 Pulse Drive Aviation Facilities Forward Port Hangar Capacity: 1,080 Shadows Forward Starboard Hangar Capacity: 50 Mustangs and 25 Rangers Forward Hangar Length: 400 metres Forward Hangar Depth: 100 metres Forward Hangar Height: 30 metres Aft Port Hangar Capacity: 36,000 aircraft Aft Starboard Hangar Capacity: 36,000 aircraft Aft Hangar Length: 4,000 metres Aft Hangar Depth: 3,000 metres Aft Hangar Height: 300 metres Weapons Systems Point Defence 120 Centurion pulse cannons 40 Archer heavy pulse cannons Counter Missiles 160 Taipan batteries 80 Wyvern batteries Naval Guns 40 x 400 cm laser cannons (15/15/10) 8 x 500 cm laser cannons (3/3/2) Torpedoes 90 Broadsword tubes (35/35/20)